# Link Equity

See which URLs and domains your posts link to most, and how prominently, as an estimate that stays within your own site.
Page: https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/features/link-equity
Use when someone asks: internal link equity wordpress; internal link weight; most linked pages
Intent: Info

Link Equity is the internal link equity report of Link Manager Pro for WordPress. It reads the links in your published posts and pages and ranks every URL and domain they point to, by how often and how early in a post they're linked. Your own pages, other sites and your affiliates' domains sit in one list, so you can see where your content sends its links.

You'll find it under Link Manager › Link Intelligence › Link Equity, next to [Link Audit](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/features/link-audit). Anyone who can use Link Manager Pro can use it ([Access for editors](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/guides/access)).

::: info Note
**Equity** is an estimate that Link Manager Pro works out from your own content. It isn't a Google score, it doesn't change your posts, and it doesn't change how search engines see your site.
:::

## Scan your site

Link Equity shows a report only after you select **Scan site**. The scan reads every published post and page and stores the result; nothing on your site changes.

Link Manager › Link Intelligence › Link Equity

1. Select **Scan site** (top right). Before the first scan, the same button also sits under **See where your links send their weight**.
2. Keep the page open. The bar shows **Scanning your content…** and how many posts are done, like "150 of 480 posts".
3. Wait for **Scan complete.** The cards and the list then show the new report.

The new report replaces the old one only when the scan reaches the end. To stop early, select **Stop**: you see **Scan stopped. The report still shows the last full scan.** Moving to another screen of the app asks first (**Leave this page?**), and closing or reloading the browser tab gets your browser's own prompt. Leaving anyway stops the scan, and the last full report stays. A new **Scan site** always starts again from the first post.

[Screenshot: Link Equity report with four count cards and a ranked list of URLs with their type, links, clicks and equity, marked: 1 the filter button that switches between By URL and By domain, 2 the Equity column]

## What the report shows

Four cards sum up the last full scan, and the list below ranks each URL by **Equity** (2), highest first. The list shows 10 rows a page; it can't be sorted by another column.

| Card | What it counts |
|---|---|
| **Links in content** | Every link found in your published posts and pages, to your own site and to others |
| **Internal links** | The links that lead to your own site. **Links in content** minus this number is your links to other sites |
| **Distinct URLs** | How many different addresses your content links to |
| **Distinct domains** | How many different domains your content links to, your own included |

| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| **#** | The rank in the list you're looking at, after the tab and the search |
| **URL** or **Domain** | Your own pages as a path, like `/pricing`; other sites without `https://`, like `example.com/shoes` |
| **Type** | **Internal**, **External** or **Affiliate** |
| **Links** | How many links point there. Every link counts, so a post that links to the same page twice adds 2 |
| **Clicks** | Recorded clicks on your short links that lead there ([what counts](#what-the-clicks-column-counts)) |
| **Equity** | The share of link weight the URL gets from all your posts, to one decimal. The bar compares it with the top row of the list you're looking at, which has the full bar |

## How is link equity calculated?

Every published post and page has an equity budget, `100` by default, that it splits across all the links in its content. Earlier links get a bigger share than later ones. A URL's **Equity** is the sum of the shares it gets from every post that links to it. More links, earlier links and linking posts with fewer other links all raise it.

A worked example with the defaults (budget `100`, position penalty `50%`):

- Post A has 4 links. Its first link, to `/pricing`, gets about 30.8. (The four links get about 31, 27, 23 and 19; see [the table for other penalties](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/guides/settings/link-intelligence#link-equity-budget-and-position-penalty).)
- Post B has one link, also to `/pricing`. That link gets the whole 100.
- `/pricing` shows **Links** `2` and **Equity** `130.8`.

The exact rule, for a post with `n` links: the link at position `i` (the first is 0) has the weight `1 - penalty × i / n`, and the post's budget is shared in proportion to the weights. So even at a `100%` penalty the last link gets a share, and the shares always add up to the budget.

What the estimate doesn't look at:

- Links to other sites take their share too. A post with many external links gives less to your own pages.
- `nofollow` and `sponsored` don't matter. Those links get their share like any other.
- Every post gives the same budget, whether many posts link to it or none (a developer filter, `link_manager_pro_link_equity_post_budget`, can change one post's budget). A post doesn't pass on the equity it received.
- Nothing outside your content counts: links from other websites, your search rankings and your traffic play no part.

Across the **By domain** list, the **Equity** values add up to about the budget times the number of posts that have links. The numbers grow with your site, so compare rows with each other, not with another site.

You set the budget and the penalty under Link Manager › Settings › Link Intelligence: **Equity budget per page** (`1` to `10000`) and **Position penalty (%)** (`0` to `100`). A new budget scales every number in the same proportion; a new penalty can change the order. Both apply from the next **Scan site** ([Link Intelligence settings](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/guides/settings/link-intelligence#link-equity-budget-and-position-penalty)).

## What Link Equity counts

Link Equity reads links the same way as Link Audit: links in the saved content of published posts and pages, internal when they point to your own site's domain ([How Link Audit counts internal links](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/features/link-audit#how-link-audit-counts-internal-links)). These points matter most here:

- Which posts: published posts and pages only. **Content types to check** doesn't change this; it applies to Link Health.
- Every link counts, in the order it appears in the post. Two links to the same page count twice, and a post's link to itself counts too. Link Audit's **Inbound** is different: it counts each linking post once and skips links to itself.
- Your own short links count where they lead. A short link to `example.com/deal` adds to the `example.com/deal` row, together with direct links there. Only the short link's **Destination URL** counts; [routing rules](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/features/conditional-rules) aren't followed.
- Addresses are tidied before they're compared. Letter case and `www.` in the domain, a `/` at the end, and everything after `?` or `#` are ignored, so `https://example.com/shoes/?ref=12` and `https://example.com/shoes` are one row. On your own site, `http` and `https` are the same page, and plain addresses like `?p=12` are kept. On other sites, an `http` and an `https` link are two rows.
- A subdomain is another domain: `shop.example.com` gets its own row under **By domain**.
- Links to your own site count wherever they go: posts, category pages, your home page or a file in your media library.
- Not counted: links in menus, widgets, footers and comments, links that [Auto-linking](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/features/auto-linking) adds while a page is shown, and links starting with `#`, `mailto:`, `tel:` or `javascript:`.

## Find your most linked pages

To find your most linked pages, select the **Internal** tab: it lists only your own pages, ranked by **Equity**. **External** shows links to other sites, affiliates included, **Affiliate** only your affiliates' domains, and **All links** everything.

- By URL or by domain: Select the filter button at the end of the search box (1). **Filters** opens with a list: choose **By domain** to add up all links per domain, then select **Done**. The select has a visible "Group by" label. The button shows a 1 while **By domain** is on. Choose **By URL** again, or select **Clear filters**, to go back.
- Your own site, under **By domain**, is one row of type **Internal**. Its **Links** equals the **Internal links** card.
- Search: type part of an address, like `pricing` or a domain name. The search looks inside the full address and ignores letter case.
- Affiliate type: a URL or domain counts as **Affiliate** when its domain is exactly the domain of one of your [affiliates](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/guides/affiliates), which comes from its **Affiliate URL**. `www.` is ignored, subdomains aren't.
- The top 500: the **By URL** list keeps the 500 URLs with the most equity, and a note reads **Top 500 of N URLs** when the site links to more. The note shows only on the **All links** tab, grouped **By URL**, with no search. On **Internal**, **External**, **Affiliate**, **By domain** or with a search, it is hidden. **Distinct URLs** can be much higher, and a page outside the top 500 shows in no tab and no search (**No URLs match “…”**). **By domain** lists every domain.

## What the Clicks column counts

The **Clicks** column counts recorded clicks on your short links whose **Destination URL** leads to that URL or domain. It doesn't count clicks on ordinary links in your posts, so your own pages often show `0`.

- All of a short link's clicks count, wherever a visitor clicked it: in a post, an email or a social post. A URL that your posts link to directly can still show clicks from a short link you shared somewhere else.
- A domain row adds up the clicks of your short links to any address on that domain.
- Hits on [redirects](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/features/redirects) don't count. **Track clicks on internal links** adds nothing here either: it gives one total on the Dashboard ([Clicks on links to your own pages](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/features/internal-click-tracking)).
- The count is taken when the scan finishes. New clicks show after the next **Scan site**, and clicks that **Keep click data for** has deleted no longer count.

## When the report updates

The Link Equity report changes only when a **Scan site** reaches the end. There's no scheduled scan, and saving a post doesn't update it.

| What happens | When the report shows it |
|---|---|
| You publish, edit, unpublish or delete posts | At the next full scan |
| You change **Equity budget per page** or **Position penalty (%)** | At the next full scan |
| You add an affiliate, or change its **Affiliate URL** | Its **Affiliate** type shows at the next full scan |
| Visitors click your short links | **Clicks** catches up at the next full scan |
| A scan is stopped, or fails | Never: the last full report stays |

The header shows "Last scan:" with the date and time in your local time, so scan again before you compare numbers if it's old. A report made with an earlier way of counting isn't shown: the page then asks for a scan, as if none had run.

## Get more out of it

- Check where your key pages stand. Search for a page's slug. If it shows **No URLs match “…”**, it may be outside the top 500. Clear the search on **All links**, grouped **By URL**, to see the **Top 500 of N URLs** note; [Link Audit](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/features/link-audit) tells you how many posts link to it.
- Put the links you care about early in a post. With the default penalty, the first link of a long post gets up to about twice the share of its last. That changes this estimate, not your search rankings.
- See how much of your linking goes to partners. Select **By domain** and compare your own site's row with the **Affiliate** tab. **Links in content** minus **Internal links** is every link to another site.
- Scan again after a round of fixes. When you've added links to orphaned posts with **Suggest links** in Link Audit ([Fix orphaned posts](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/tutorials/fix-orphaned-posts)), select **Scan site** here: Link Equity doesn't update on its own.
- Get click numbers for your own pages. The **Clicks** column counts only short links, so to see which internal links readers use, make them short links ([Clicks on links to your own pages](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/features/internal-click-tracking)).

## If something goes wrong

- If a page you're looking for isn't in the list, then it's either outside the 500 URLs with the most equity (the **Top 500 of N URLs** note shows then, but only on **All links** by URL with an empty search; check **All links** first), or no post links to it (menu links don't count). Check its **Inbound** in Link Audit.
- If the numbers didn't change after you edited posts or changed a setting, then select **Scan site**. The report updates only when a scan finishes.
- If the scan ends with **The scan stopped. Run it again to finish.**, then select **Scan site** again. It starts from the first post, and the last full report stays until it finishes.
- If a page shows **Clicks** `0` although visitors follow links to it, then those are ordinary links: **Clicks** counts only short link clicks.
- If the same address seems to appear twice, then one row is the `http` and the other the `https` address of another site. They count as two URLs.

More fixes are on [Troubleshooting](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/troubleshooting).

## Related

- [Fix orphaned posts](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/tutorials/fix-orphaned-posts)
- [Link Intelligence settings](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/guides/settings/link-intelligence)
- [Link Audit](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/features/link-audit)
- [Clicks on links to your own pages](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/features/internal-click-tracking)
- [Troubleshooting](https://docs.linkmanagerpro.com/troubleshooting)